June 20, 2013

Montana won our vote on where to poll this weekend. Obviously our main interest is the US Senate race...what match ups would you like to see us test for that? And what else should we ask about in Montana? Thanks as always for the good suggestions!

Raleigh, N.C.- PPP’s latest poll of North
Carolina voters finds a tight, though slightly Democratic-leaning, Senate race
brewing for 2014. Senator Kay Hagan, who has a 41% approval rating compared to
42% who disapprove, is leading all likely Republican challengers by margins of
4%-9%. However, she has failed to secure 50% of the vote in any of the
hypothetical races, showing this race could get even tighter.

Within the
Republican Party, a clear consensus has not yet formed on who should represent
them in the Senate race, with the plurality of respondents (27%) saying they
were undecided or favored a candidate not listed. Representative Virginia Foxx
currently has a clear lead over the rest of the field, taking in 23% of the
vote, a good bit above the next most popular contender, State Senator Phil
Berger, who received 11%. NC Speaker of the House Thom Tillis and US
Representative Renee Ellmers tied for third with 9% of the vote each. The rest
of the candidates were, in order, Jim Cain (8%), Greg Brannon (7%), Mark Harris
(4%), and Lynn Wheeler (3%).

Thom Tillis may now officially be in the US Senate race, but Republican voters in North Carolina are still shopping for another candidate. Only 9% say Tillis would be their first choice, which puts him in a tie for third with Renee Ellmers among candidates considering the race.

The first choice of GOP voters by a wide margin is Virginia Foxx who's at 23%,giving her a 12 point edge on runner up Phil Berger at 11%. Rounding out the field after Tillis and Ellmers are Jim Cain at 8%, Greg Brannon at 7%, Mark Harris at 4%, and Lynn Wheeler at 3%.

Foxx's early lead is being driven by the right wing of the Republican Party. Among voters identifying themselves as 'very conservative,' she's at 32% with Ellmers next at 12%. But even with moderates Foxx leads the way at 23% to 11% for Cain. Foxx also has the strongest geographic base of any of the candidates, polling at 55% in the Triad while no one else gets over 25% in their home base.

Voters continue to be closely divided in their feelings about Kay Hagan- 41% approve of her to 42% who disapprove. But with Cherie Berry, who had been the strongest Republican candidate in polling, out of the race Hagan is now back to leading the entire GOP field in head to head match ups.

Raleigh, N.C.- PPP’s latest poll on pets and
animals find that six in ten voters (61%) say they own a pet. Almost half (46%)
say they spend between 1-5 hours per
week taking care of their pets, while 25% spend between 6-10 hours, 7% 11-20
hours, 6% more than 20 hours and 16% less than one hour. One in five say they
prefer to spend time with their pets over most human beings.

Almost a
third (31%) say their pets sleep in the bed with them. About a quarter of pet
owners (24%) say that “everyone should love their pet”, while 69% do not think
that.

When
asked whether they prefer cats or dogs, dogs win big with 52% while just 21%
choose cats. 44% of voters say they own dogs, and 21% of dog owners say their
dogs bark and jump on people every time they enter the house (79% say their
dogs don’t do that.). 31% of voters own cats, and fully 77% of those cat owners
say their cats are friendly to visitors compared to 23% who aren’t friendly.

PPP POLLS BY YEAR: 2006-2015

We came to PPP after a public poll in the San Jose Mayoral race showed our opponent ahead by 8 points. They found our candidate (Sam Liccardo) ahead by 3 points and that allowed us to be able to push back with the press against the perception that our opponent was now a strong favorite in the race. Sam ended up winning by 2 points and is now the next Mayor of San Jose. PPP worked very fast and had a very accurate read on the electorate when we needed them–Eric Jaye, Storefront Political Media.

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